By testing kids’ physical and mental limits, these toys help children learn where the boundaries of their knowledge lie, and how to transcend them. Take a look at some of our favorite ways to color outside the lines.
Orbita MIDI Color Sequencer
Photograph: Antosh Sergiew
This spinning sequencer is like musical roulette for budding ravers. Place the colored magnets anywhere on the four gray concentric rings, each of which controls a MIDI loop. Then plug the sequencer into a smartphone or computer, connect your favorite music software, and get creative. All four loops run simultaneously, with each magnet representing a different note or sound. You can adjust the pitch and mute individual loops too. Refreshingly mechanical, the Orbita makes visualizing music production child’s play. $458, playtronica.com
Lego Smart Play System Pokémon Sets
Photograph: Antosh Sergiew
By combining a new smart brick with programmable NFC tags and minifigures, kids of all ages can now design and interact with Lego creations like never before. The 2- by 4-stud rechargeable smart brick is packed with a synthesizer, speaker, accelerometer, gyroscope, light and sound sensors, and LEDs. A positioning system can sense orientation between multiple smart bricks. A big bonus: Lego’s Smart Play System works entirely without attention-sucking screens.
Lego’s first Pokémon collab almost crashed the website, so surely the Danes had IT on standby when 12 new Smart Play kits came online. There are two all-in-one kits: Pikachu’s 400-piece Training House and the 751-piece Charizard-Jolteon battle, which include rechargeable smart bricks and NFC tags that can trigger lights, sounds, motion and sensing.
Already got some Smart Play? The 10 other compatible kits, including Mewtwo’s Lab Break and Cubone and Gengar’s Spooky Showdown, have the tags but not the Smart Bricks. $70 and up, lego.com
Stapelstein Rainbow Set
Courtesy of Stapelstein
Interactive adventure play done with style, the Rainbow kit features six stacking stools, a balance board, plus a host of nesting pieces that can combine to be whatever their imagination demands. Stepping-stones, wobble course, color-sorting game, toddler throne, snack tray, spinner, fort barricades or floor-is-lava upgrade. The lightweight toxin-free, 100 percent recyclable EPP pieces are waterproof, wipe clean and strong enough for adults (396 pounds limit), so don’t forget to include grandma. $299, stapelstein.com
KidzLane Electronic Dance Mat
Courtesy of Kidzlane
We can’t promise it will turn Jnr. into Fred Astaire overnight, but this impossibly good value dance mat will get your kids moving and (hopefully) tuckered out. Suitable for ages 6 to 12, it features a built-in speaker, Bluetooth and AUX so you can connect your own favorite songs, four built-in games with five difficulty levels, including a great “Simon Says” mode that gets them thinking as well as boogying. And before you ask, yes, the volume is adjustable, and batteries removable. $19, walmart.com
Takway Sweekar
Courtesy of Takway.AI
Oh good, it’s a reimagined Tamagotchi, but instead of a few beepy-bleeps and button presses to keep it alive, Sweekar has loaded it with generative AI and given it a long-term memory, evolving dialog and “personality.” We’re sure it’ll be fine, and neglect won’t result in a lawsuit when the Robots finally take over, but for now we suggest erring on the side of caution and make sure the kids care for it carefully through Egg, Baby, Teen, and Adult stages. The 89-gram pocket pet also simulates body warmth and breathing, which isn’t creepy at all. $149, takway.ai
Looi Robot
Courtesy of TangibleFuture
LOOI turns your smartphone into a chirpy little tank-like desk robot, using the screen as its face and the camera, mic and processor as its brain. Snap on your phone (minimum iOS 17+, or Android 12+), open the app and, powered by ChatGPT, it can chat, remember preferences, react to touch and gestures, play motion games, avoid desk edges and make funny faces. It also doubles as a 10-watt wireless charger and adjustable phone stand, which makes it marginally more helpful than your last assistant—although it can’t, as yet, make the coffee. $239, looirobot.com
Crocs Super Mario Core Classic Clog
Courtesy of Crocs
As hyped as a Supreme x Louis Vuitton collaboration, just a whole lot more fun, the Crocs Mushroom Kingdom takeover is a joyous celebration of polyethylene vinyl acetate footwear. The Core Classic Clog, available in adult and kids’ sizes features a detailed graphic print with classic in-game items like coins, Super Stars, and Green Shells, while the sole is wrapped in dimensional detailing resembling the green pipes and grassy terrain. And, naturally, each pair comes with Super Mushroom outer rivets, a “?” Block badge on the backstrap, and eight Jibbitz charms featuring Mario and Luigi. $70, crocs.com
Gibson x Loog Les Paul
Courtesy of Loog
Loog has been making fine learn-to-play guitars for more than 10 years, and its intuitive three-string axes make it easier for anyone to learn the basics before transitioning up to a full fretboard. After a successful partnership with Fender, they’ve now teamed up with Gibson to produce a mini electric guitar in either classic SG—putting the young in AC-DC’s Angus Young’s favorite axe—or with the iconic Les Paul curves shown here. And before you ask, these are proper instruments, with a solid poplar body, Canadian neck, rosewood fingerboard, single coil pick-up and 19 finger-friendly 1.8 mm frets. $229, loogguitars.com
Woom Wow Balance Bike
Courtesy of Woom
The perfect buy if your bambino has nailed the art of sitting and standing independently, and you want more chaotic fun and adventure in your life. This self-centering, self-balancing bike is designed for kids as young as 9 months (from 28 to 40 inches in height). It gives them a chance to become the next big name on Red Bull’s MotoGP roster before they’ve even realized that broccoli isn’t actually fun little trees. $199, woom.com
Kibu Headphones
Courtesy of Kibu
Turn kids’ headphones into a brilliant STEM project, with snap-together parts they build before they listen. Kibu’s wired cans are 3D printed from recycled and plant-based materials, use a standard 3.5-mm jack, limit volume to 85 dB, and have a second aux port for daisy-chaining with friends. Every part can be customized, repaired, replaced and eventually recycled, an attention to detail far too rare in adult, let alone kid’s tech. WIRED wishes more grown-up gear followed the same sustainable approach, with gear designed to be understood, and to last. $73, kibu.family
Marvin’s Miniblocks
Courtesy of The Little Marvin
By selling 35 million copies for the Gameboy alone, Tetris proved that a handful of simple shapes could become one of gaming’s most enduring obsessions. Marvin’s Miniblocks gives that idea a preschool-friendly, screen-free reboot with a wooden board, 42 chunky shapes and 10 pattern cards for building, matching, rotating and inventing. It is part puzzle, part construction set, and made from eco-friendly wood with non-toxic paint. There is one important detail missing though. $55, the-littlemarvin.com
HoverAir Aqua
Courtesy of HoverAir
This 34 mph follow-me drone has 10 flight modes, 4K, 100 FPS motion camera and floating waterproof housing making it also the first design capable of take of and landing on water. It weighs under 250 grams, meaning you wont need FAA registration to fly one. The battery has enough for 23 minutes of flying time, and there’s 128 GB built-in storage. Plus, with a level 7 wind resistance, it’s happy to fly in gusts of up to 38 mph, making it the ideal companion for capturing solo foiling, windsurfing and sailing follow-me footage. $1,299, hoverair.com
Modu Balance Track
Courtesy of MODU
Think of this as a jumbo-sized Meccano set, with 17-pieces including four FSC-certified birch wood balance beams (27.6 inches long), four chunky blocks (7.9 x 7.9 x 3.9 inches) made from recycled EPP foam, eight pegs and an idea booklet. Designed for ages from 3 to 8, it’s great for imaginative play, coordination, construction, and problem solving. It’s also surprisingly good value for a kit of this scale. And when the kids finally get bored of balancing, they can be repurposed into a shelving unit. $203, modutoy.com
Timex Time Machines 29mm Dinosaur Watch
Courtesy of Timex
Tells time in any era, not just the Jurassic. Made just for kids, Timex’s 29mm dinosaur-themed watch boasts an easy-to-read dial, minute markers and adjustable elastic band. The quartz movement means accuracy is assured, while the front glass is actually polymer, so it’s not just got good impact resistance, it can be easily polished to remove scuffs should playtime get rowdy. One last boon: all of Timex’s kids’ watches come with a 100-percent worry-free replacement plan, so don’t fret about lost or broken watches. $49, timex.com
UNO Canvas x MoMA Card Game
Courtesy of Mattel
This is the latest in a series of creative collaborations from Mattel Toys, bringing together the world’s best-selling card game and a selection of the most iconic artists from MoMa’s permanent collection. Featuring Sonia Delaunay, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Claude Monet, Liubov Popova and Vincent van Gogh, it’s a great limited-edition update to the 52-year-old game. And before you ask, sadly the Dutch post-impressionist painter still stacks the +4. $25, mattel.com
Blipblox After Dark
Courtesy of Blipblox
Are you frustrated that your kids don’t ask you enough about your love for The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, and why Talk Talk’s The Party’s Over is the seminal synth album of 1982? Maybe you can Sparks their imagination with this brilliantly inclusive designed-for-all-ages synth. It comes pre-loaded with 300 built-in melodies and 100 drum sounds, meaning you (sorry, they) can get modulating, pitch-shifting and oscillating straight out the box. The built-in speaker and AA battery power make it easy to use anywhere, but the MIDI input and a quarter-inch output mean it can plug into “proper” gear later. $219, blipblox.com
Dex Camera
Courtesy of Dex
Take a photo and Dex identifies what’s in the frame, then teaches the word in one of 16 languages. It can turn pictures into flash cards and use spoken stories to, you know, make learning fun. $249, dex.camera
